Moath Hamza Ahmed al Alwi
Moath Hamza Ahmed al Alwi is a citizen of Yemen, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006 His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number is 28. As of February 18, 2010, Moath Hamza Ahmed al Alwi has been held at Guantanamo for eight years 1 months. Combatant Status Review Tribunal Initially the Bush administration asserted that they could withhold all the protections of the Geneva Conventions to captives from the war on terror. This policy was challenged before the Judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct competent tribunals to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections of prisoner of war status. Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The Tribunals, however, were not authorized to determine whether the captives were lawful combatants -- rather they were merely empowered to make a recommendation as to whether the captive had previously been correctly determined to match the Bush administration's definition of an enemy combatant. To comply with a Freedom of Information Act request, during the winter and spring of 2005, the Department of Defense released 507 memoranda. Those 507 memoranda each contained the allegations against a single detainee, prepared for their Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The detainee's name and ID numbers were redacted from all but one of the memoranda. However 169 of the memoranda had the detainee's ID hand-written on the top right hand of the first page corner. When the Department of Defense complied with a court order, and released official lists of the detainee's names and ID numbers it was possible to identify who those 169 were written about. Muaz Hamza Ahmad Al Alawi was one of those 169 detainees. Summary of Evidence memo (.pdf) prepared for Muaz Hamza Ahmad Al Alawi's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - October 16, 2004 page 230 Allegations Habeas corpus petition Al Alawi had a writ of habeas corpus filed on his behalf. On 30 December 2008 US District Court Judge Richard J. Leon ruled that Al Alawi, and, in a separate ruling, that Hisham Sliti, "were part of or supported the Taliban", and thus could continue to be held in US custody. The New York Times called the two rulings: "the first clear-cut victories for the Bush administration", while Andy Worthington noted they represented a "disturbing development".Worthington, Andy. Judge orders release of Guantanamo's forgotten child, December 2008 Glaberson reported that Leon stated he did not have to take a position on the Bush administration's claim Al Alawi was an Osama bin Laden bodyguard, that there was enough evidence he had supported the Taliban to confirm his designation as an "enemy combatant". References External links * The Guantánamo Files: Website Extras (3) – “Osama’s Bodyguards” Andy Worthington * No End in Sight for the “Enemy Combatants” of Guantánamo Andy Worthington * Guantánamo And The Courts (Part One): Exposing The Bush Administration’s Lies Andy Worthington Category:Living people Category:People held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp Category:Yemeni extrajudicial prisoners of the United States